Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power converter for a railroad vehicle, and more particularly, it relates to a power converter for a railroad vehicle including a plurality of heat radiating fins that radiates the heat of a device mounted on the railroad vehicle when the railroad vehicle is running.
Description of the Background Art
A power converter for a railroad vehicle including a plurality of heat radiating fins that radiates the heat of a device mounted on the railroad vehicle when the railroad vehicle is running is known in general, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3469475.
Japanese Patent No. 3469475 discloses a semiconductor cooling apparatus for a railroad vehicle including a plurality of coolers (heat radiating fins) used in a power converter for vehicle driving placed under the floor of the railroad vehicle.
In this semiconductor cooling apparatus for a railroad vehicle described in Japanese Patent No. 3469475, the coolers (heat radiating fins) are aligned in a horizontal direction on a side surface of the power converter in an underfloor space of the vehicle in a state where the coolers are divided into three parts along the running direction of the vehicle. The outsides of these cooler clusters are covered by a protective cover provided with multiple air holes. Inside the protective cover, air guide plates inclined toward the respective coolers are provided. Thus, traveling air associated with vehicle running is taken through the air holes of the protective cover, and is supplied directly or partially to the respective coolers (heat radiating fins) while flowing along the air guide plates.
In the semiconductor cooling apparatus for a railroad vehicle described in Japanese Patent No. 3469475, the traveling air taken through the air holes of the protective cover including the multiple air holes is supplied to the respective coolers (heat radiating fins) through the air guide plates, but not all the traveling air taken into the protective cover may be supplied to the respective coolers due to arrangement relationships between the respective coolers or a complicated airflow state in the protective cover caused by the positions of the mounted air guide plates. Under the circumstances in which some of the air taken into the protective cover is not used for heat exchange with the coolers and is directly discharged externally from the protective cover through the multiple air holes of the protective cover, the traveling air is not sufficiently supplied to (introduced into) the respective coolers, and the radiation performance of the respective coolers cannot be maximized. Thus, the radiation performance of the coolers as a whole is disadvantageously reduced.